Harbor Rock Tabernacle

One of the great truths of the Bible is that Jesus Christ has won complete victory over sin. As His children, we live in the power of His victory. But one line of spiritual attack is to dispute this in our minds, which can render us weak and stuck in spiritual mediocrity if we believe it. The Spirit addresses this in Hebrews 6, warning the Jews and us to not fall back in hardheartedness, and pointing to Jesus Christ. In Him, we can live with the full assurance of hope--confident expectation of His power and provision that never disappoints.

100 million followers...700,000 "likes". Identity is often now defined by who and what you follow. But what does it mean to "follow" Jesus? That was His call to Matthew the tax collector, and how Matthew responds in Matthew 9:9 shows us the decisions needed and the ways our lives are completely changed once we trust in Jesus.

In sports, players often try to insult and intimidate their opponent as part of the game. Spiritually, we face an even greater effort to demoralize us from trusting in the Lord. King Hezekiah of Judah faced this type of attack from the Assyrians, who launched a spiritual and psychological campaign declaring that God was powerless to defend Judah. How Hezekiah prepared and responded, and what the Lord did to help him and prove His power, offers a textbook example of how we should respond to this challenging aspect of spiritual warfare.

He was wise, respected and had great authority in standing against the early Christian Church...but he became an unlikely defender of the disciples. Gamaliel recognized the danger of opposing God, and his words helped the disciples to spread the Gospel more effectively throughout the world. In this study from Acts 5, we see the importance of our reputation, the need to warn others about spiritual dangers, and the amazing influence we can have when we live by the Spirit and speak our convictions.

Manasseh was the most evil king of the nation of Judah. He was defiant toward God and sought to replace God in as many ways as he could. The Lord warned Manasseh but he "paid no attention", so God brought the Assyrians to take him captive. Then, Manasseh made a wise decision--to humble himself before God and entreat Him for help. The Lord was "moved" by this and changed Manasseh's life. God's amazingly gracious response calls us to take intentional steps to keep ourselves right with Him.

A man once approached Jesus, asking Him a question with a faulty premise: "Whave do I have to do to obtain eternal life?" He was grieved when Jesus told him that it required a full sacrifice of whatever we value more than the Lord. This was illustrated in a profound way during this year's Vacation Bible School at Harbor Rock, so in this message Pastor Rhoads tells the story that highlights the "possessions" that we must be give to the Lord so we can walk with Christ.

Timothy was a believer who was discouraged and feeling defeated, because of spiritual warfare, cultural decline, relational opposition and weakness in his spiritual walk. His mentor Paul wrote to him to be strong in God's grace through Jesus Christ, and then to invest into the lives of others by depositing the Truth of God's Word into their hearts. In this study from 2 Timothy 2, we learn the importance of being faithful and trustworthy to the Lord.

This Sunday we celebrated our graduating Seniors. We asked two of them--Sean Daniels and Jacob Rhoads--to teach the Word of God. Sean speaks about "growing up" from Luke 18, with a focus on having the mindset of a child as we trust and serve the Lord. Jacob speaks from 1 Samuel 1 about the example Samuel set, which encourages us to look forward to how we should walk by faith.

All throughout the New Testament, the Holy Spirit teaches us about living a holy life. Because "the days are evil", there needs to be a sense of urgency in our hearts to live in the transformation that God has provided through Christ. This study from Ephesians 5 reveals that there are two factors that will lead to a demonstration of our faith: Repentance and prayer.

As we approach the end of the school, many students are concerned about the grades they will make. Ultimately, those grades don't have eternal significance, but how we live spiritually does. Israel had every advantage to know and serve the Lord, but by 2 Kings 17, they had brought captivity back on themselves because they had failed to love, trust and obey the Lord. Their actions give us the opportunity to examine our own lives, to see if we are making the grades or falling short of God's expectations.